Automobile.



No. 652,006. Patented June 19; I900. J. C. RANTZ.

AUTOMOBILE. (Application filed Sept. 16, 1899.)

2 Sheeis--Shset I.

(No Model.)

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No. 652,006. Patnted lune I9, 1900.

.l. c. RAN-T2, V AUTOMOBILE.

(Application filed. Sept. 16, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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' Be it known that I, JOHN CHRISTIAN RANTZ,

- trolling mechanism for governing the speed UNITED it STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JoHNcI-IRIsTIAN RANTZ, 0F WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMOBILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 652,006, dated June 19 1900. Application filed September 16,1899. Serial No. 730,750. on model.)

T0 on whom it may concern.-

a citizen of the United States, residing at Williamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automobiles, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in automobilesa class of vehicles which carry someform of 'motor operatively connected with the runninggear and con- 'and direction of the vehicle.

The object of the present invention is to produce a simple form of gearing and control ling mechanism to permit the vehicle ,to be stopped, started, reversed, and controlled as to speed by the manipulation of a single controlling-lever which] when urged in various directions will effect the desired results.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of my automobile driving and controlling mechanism complete, the vehicle being diagrammatically illustrated in dotted outline. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, certain of the parts being shown in elevation. Fig. 3 is a sectionalview, partly in elevation, on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the controlling-lever elevated and the eccentric bearing rocked to cause the disengagement of the friction-gears;

and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of so much,

of the mechanism as is necessary to illustrate the means for moving the shifting gear in di- 5 with rerections longitudinal and transverse spect to the driving-shaft. Referring to the numerals'of reference em- I ployed to designate corresponding parts in the several views, 1 indicates the vehicle-body, and 2 the wheels thereof, supporting the body and propelling mechanism. The front wheels 2 are, as usual, mounted upon a swiveled truck 3, arranged to beswung to guide the Vehicle by a guiding-lever 4 or other similar device, these elements being diagrammatically illustrated in order to make the description complete, as they constitute no. part of the invention.

Mounted at any point upon the vehicle-' body, preferably intermediate of the front and rear wheels, is a motor 5, of any desired form, operatively connected with a powershaft 6, extending transversely under the vehicle-body and having keyed to its end a comparatively-large friction gear or disk 7. This gear is designed to frictionally contact with What may be termed the shifting or controlling gear 8, mounted upon the drivingshaft 9 and capable of longitudinal movement thereon. 1The driving shaft passes through abearing 10 adjacentto its rear end, and at its rear extremity is keyed a comparatively-small bevel-gear 11, meshing with compensating gearing designed to transmit rotary motion to the rear axle or shaft 13, carrying the vehicle-wheels 2. The shaft 13 is divided, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and the compensating gearing consists of a bevel-gear 14, mounted loosely upon the adjacent ends of the shaft-sections and meshing with the gear 11, carried by the shaft 9. Pinions 16, having their axes radially disposed with respect to the shaft 13, are independ en tly and rotatably mounted in the opening 17 in the gear 14 upon shafts 18, and these pinions are in mesh above and below the gear 14 with oppositely-disposed beveled gears "19, fixed upon the sections of the shaft 13 and held in place through the medium of attaching means carried by the hubs 20 thereof. With this construction of compensating gearing it will be seen that when the front wheels of the vehicle are adjusted to carry the vehicle straight ahead the sections of the shaft 13 will be prevented from uneven rotation because of the engagement of the wheels 2 with the surface of the ground. Therefore the gears 19 must rotate evenly, and the meshing of the pinions 16 with these gears 19 will act to drag them around with the gear 14, thus driving the machine straight forward. If, however, the front steering-wheels -be turned in either-direction, the wheel on the off side will have a longer path over which to travel, and hence will rotate more rapidly than the *wheel at the inner side. Under these conditions the pinion 16 will rotate to of speed corresponding to the paths over which their wheels have. to travel. By this means all slipping of the inner wheel on a turn and torsional strain upon the shaft, due to tendency of uneven rotation, will be pre revolve the shaft-sections at different rates vented. Now it will-appear that as power is transmitted toethe. driving-shaft .9 from the power-shaft 6 through the gears 7 and 8 the speed and direction of rotation of the former will be governed by the location of the shift ing gear 8 at various distances from the axis of the gear7 :or upon opposite-sides thereof. It is for the purpose of effecting this variable connection between the gears that I have mounted the gear 8 longitudinally movable upon the shaft, and I have further arranged the bearings of the shaft 9 to permit it to move laterally for the purpose of connecting or disconnecting the gears to start or stopthei vehicle. Therefore in order to have the ve- ,hicle entirelyunder the control of the oper-. .ator it is simply necessary to employ some simple-form of mechanism for shifting the gear 8 to vary its connection with the gear 7 .orentirely disconnect it therefrom, and ,I

shall now proceed to describe what I consider to be'a preferred form of such mechanism.

.21 indicates'whatmay betermed an ec centric rocking'bearing revolubly mounted i-nna bracket 22, supported, as, for instance,

in a frame. 23, depending from the bottom of thevehicle-body. In this bearing is eccentically journaled the front end of the drivingshaft-9, and from the bearing projects an arm 24','the-outer,end of which is connected through a link 25 with 'a movable sleeve 26, mounted upon avertical rock-shaft 27 and connected through asecond link 28 with the controllinglever29, pivotedat the upper end of the rockshaft, 27 and within reach of the occupants of the. vehicle. The elevation of the controllinglever 29 in the direction indicated by the arrow 29* in Fig. 5 of the drawings will raise the sleeve 26 and, throughthe link .25'an'd bearing-arm 24,.will rock the bearing and ef-.

fectlthe transverse movement of the front endof thedriving-shaft 9, thereby moving the shifting gear'S out of contact. with .the

contiguous; face of the power-gear 7. .Obvi-' ously a reversal of this operation will oper-- ativelyconnect the power and shifting gears to permit thetransmission of power from the ized as illustrated in Fig. 1 and that thevehicle' is being propelled, If it is'desired to decrease or increase the speed of the vehicle, the rockshaft 27 will be partially rotated by swinging the controlling-lever in the direction indicated by the arrow 36 or 37, which causes the os-. cillation of the shifting lever 32 and shifts the gear 8 longitudinally upon the shaft 9 t0 cause-the engagement of the shifting gear with the face of the power-gear 7 nearer to or farther. from the axis of the latter. The reversal of the direction of rotation of the shaft 9 to cause the reversal of movement of .the've'hiclei is effected by shifting the gear 8 to the opposite side of the axis of the gear 7 in a manner which will appear obvious from the preceding description. Whenitis degears are disconnected by the slight lateral movement imparted to the shaft -9- through the rotation of: the eccentric bearing. "Thus I am enabled to control the-direction and speed ofan automobile by the operation of a single lever connected with a simple,:inexpower and driving shafts, of a friction-wheel upon the power-shaft,*a driving-gear-longitudinally movable on the driving shafhalevery.having'connection.with the driving gear for moving it longitudinallyof itsshaftkacross the face of the friction-gear, and connections between said lever and the adriving tshaft for moving said shaft toward and away. from the friction-gear to engage and disengage the driving-gear. with respect to the friction-gear.

2. In an automobile, the combination with power and driving shafts, of aifriction-gear on the power-shaft, said power-shaft being sired to stop the vehicle, thecontrolling-lever is elevated, as heretofore described, andthe {motor to the vehicle-wheels.

The rock-shaft 27 is stepped in acup-bearingBO within the frame 23 and may or'may not be'provided with a bearing 31 above the floor of the vehicle, as it will be seen that the sleeve 26, passing through the vehicle-floor, while movable upon also acts as a bearing for this shaft. V

.32 indicates what may be termed a shifting lever extending from the rock-shaft-27 adjacent to its lowerend and pivoted at its outer extremity to one end of apitman 33,

pivotally connected at its opposite-extremity to a' flanged collar 34, concentric with the? driving-shaf 9 and revolubly engaged by the flanged hubfk I ofthe shifting gear 8. Referringwto the operation of myinvention, we will suppose that thedevice is organmovable toward and away from the frictiongear, a driving-gear loiigitudinally movable on the driving-shaft, a I rock-shaft connected with the driving-shaft and adapted to move it to. engage and disengage the driving-gear with respect to the friction-gear a lever piv oted to the rock-shaft for operating it,--a sleeve uponthe rock-shaft, connections betweenthe sleeve and the driving-gearfor moving-the latter across the face of the friction-gear, and connections between the sleeve and thelever for operating the sleeve.

V 3. In an .automobile,-the combination-with power and driving shafts, of acomparativelylarge friction-gear on the power-shaft,-atdriving-gear longitudinally movable .on the'driv ing-shaft, an eccentric bearing .at one end of the driving-shaft and-provided with a ra-dial bearing-arm, a rock-shaft extending through In testimony that I claim the foregoing as the bottom of the vehicle and provided with my own I have hereto afiiixed my signature in IQ a shifting lever, a pitman intermediate of the the presence of two Witnesses. shifting lever and driving-gear, a sleeve mov- 5 able upon the rock-shaft, a controlling-lever JOHN CHRISTIAN RANTZ' I pivoted at the upper end of the rock-shaft, Witnesses:

andlinks connecting the sleeve with the con- JOHN E. CUPP, trolling-lever and bearing-arm respectively. W. A. BENTON. 

